Seahawks post-game player quotes

Here are some post-game quotes from Seattle players following Sunday’s 38-17 win over the Giants:

QB RUSSELL WILSON

(On the rushing game today…) “It’s always good to have a great day. We were able to run the ball extremely well, and that’s what we want to do, we want to be physical. We want to give the ball to Marshawn Lynch, and let him do his thing, and he had an exceptional game today, and the offensive line was tremendous. To rush for 350 yards plus, that’s a pretty good day.”

(On having Max Unger back in the lineup…) “To have Max in there, it really solidifies a lot of things. I thought Schilling and Lewis did a great job when they had to step up for us, and that’s what we’ve had to deal with all season, is guys having to step up. We’ve had a lot of guys out. Getting some guys back, we had some guys back this week, and obviously to have Max back, and then have Russell Okung back, and hopefully soon we’ll be getting Zach Miller back here, too. Those are the things that we look forward to. Max Unger played a great game tonight. I thought we were really up tempo today, that was our focus, offensively, to be up tempo, and I thought the defense played a great game, they got us the ball and we capitalized when we needed to.”

(On whether the offense has rediscovered its identify… ) “I think the offense, we’re still figuring our way. We know we want to run the ball. We know we want to be explosive in the passing game and make plays and sometimes be creative, because sometimes the scrambles are going to happen for us, and we want to be big-time there. You think about Jermaine Kearse being able to go deep there on the scramble play and make that big time catch for us. Those are things that we’re going to be able to do. I think the receivers that we have, they’re doing a great job. You think about the young guys having to step up and play right away, that’s not easy to do. With all of the injuries we’ve had so far, we’re still finding ways to win games. That’s what it all comes down to, is winning games, no matter what it takes-finding a way to win. ”

(On how well Marshawn Lynch is playing right now…) “He’s having an MVP performance. That’s what you want out of your star player, and he’s doing a great job. He’s playing his best football. I’m really excited for Marshawn, when he’s going, it really makes things happen for us. I think, in terms of our passing game, we’re right there. There’s some things that we have to fix, and work on, and I have to get better at. But with the way we’re running the football, if we get our passing game going, when we do, it’s going to be really hard to stop us. ”

(On what the offense would be like without Lynch… ) “I think we’ve been able to prove that we can go two minute and throw for a lot of yards when we have to, and come back from behind, and all those type of things. So, there’s no concern in terms of that. But, to have a guy like Marshawn, it’s a great thing. You do have two great backups in Robert Turbin, who’s really a starter in terms of his ability and what he can really do. You think of Christine Michael, you saw what he could do with his speed and his acceleration in terms of the flip play that we had for him. Also, I’m not sure how far the run was, but the 50+ yard run that he had near the end of the game.”

(On mentally fighting through a two interception game…) “You’re going to have some bad plays in there. We had two bad plays today. Other than that, I thought we played a great football game. So, you learn from it. I think that you have to be able to adjust. I always use the baseball analogy, that’s the only other thing I know. Sometimes you strike out, but you get up again and you keep swinging. I think for us, we’re right there. The guys are really clicking and we’re making things happen and we’re finding ways to win, and that’s ultimately what we want to do.”

WR DOUG BALDWIN

(On coming on strong in the second half) “We found a way to pull it out. That’s football man. That’s just the way it is. You have to give their guys on the other side of the ball a lot of credit. The record might not reflect the best, but that’s a talented team over there. We just try to play the best of our ability and unfortunately it wasn’t as pretty as we would like it to be but a win is a win.”
(On Marshawn Lynch) “He is unbelievable. Unbelievable man. Anytime he touches the ball something magical happens and he did it again today.”
(On if Marshawn Lynch is getting better) “I think so and that’s a sign of a true competitor, a player with grit. As the season goes on and progresses, they just get better and better and obviously he’s doing that right now.”
(On if this much running was in the game plan or what the Giants defense gave you) “It’s what the Giants defense gave us. They were playing soft an awful lot a lot of time so we had to aim the ball low. They dictated the game by just allowing us to run the ball.”

OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR DARRELL BEVELL
(On how much cleaner it felt up front with Russell Okung and Max Unger back in) “Well I think the communication is really clean when Max [Unger] is in there. Obviously he has the most experience. He’s been able to look at it the most. He’s great at talking to the rest of the guys. He’s used to playing with the guys besides him and the communication is just a lot better when he’s in there.”
(On the read option) “There’s always a little bit of it in the game plan. Like I said earlier, you’re trying to get opportunities to see certain things and the way it was going gave you enough opportunities to take a look at it and then you were able to make adjustments off of it and it was just able to get rolling today.”
(On the opposing team being worried that Marshawn Lynch would go one way and Russell Wilson would go the opposing way) “I mean I think we’re tough to defend. With Russell’s [Wilson] ability to pull the ball and run I think it’s trouble because of Marshawn Lynch. He starts up front with him but then there’s little things in the passing game that we can do as well. We were able to slide back Doug [Baldwin] one time and get him out on the flat and it just looks the same but it’s a little bit different. It was able to cause some problems.”
(On the passing game being a slight struggle today) “They got us one time. They did a really nice job disguising the coverage and something that we had worked on and coached. They just got us with the disguise. It’s a rough day. That wind. The rain was kind of coming, stop and going and it was heavy at times. At the end it was coming down pretty good. You saw how slippery the ball got. It was almost like a greased pig. It was all over the place. There’s still things that we can clean up that we’ll go back to film and work on.”

TE COOPER HELFET
(On the offensive linemen) “Obviously when the run game gets going like that, we want that to be our attitude from the start. We just want to run the ball hard-that’s what we do best, give the ball to twenty-four [Marshawn Lynch], let him work, and try to stay on our blocks because if we stay on our blocks he’s going to make a big play. That was the game plan, we stuck to it, and it ended up coming up big in the third and fourth quarter.”
(On Russell Wilson) “He’s super intelligent out there-he always, for the most part, makes the right decisions especially on those give-pull reads where he picks one guy to look at and decides whether he should give it or pull it. It’s something that he’s worked on a lot and it’s something that he’s gotten better at.”
(On the passing game struggling) “Passing game is tough because it’s kind of a flow thing. It’s one of those things where you get in a rhythm and get going or if it doesn’t, then it’s hard to get it going. First half was kind of spotty here and there-we made a couple big plays and we had a couple tough ones, but when Russ [Russell Wilson] gets out of the pocket and makes that big play down field to [Jermaine] Kearse, then he makes all those big catches and starts to feel himself and get going and we’re rolling.”

WR JERMAINE KEARSE
(On Earl Thomas’ tipped ball interception) “That’s what we need. Those guys are going to get us the ball back and we just have to capitalize off it and I feel like things are really starting to come together.”
(On how much the offense feeds off of the defense creating turnovers like that) “It’s huge. When defense is creating turnovers and getting the offense the ball back, it allows us to work some things and get the offense going to put some points on the board.”
(On how hard it has been with losing Percy Harvin, getting two young guys, etc) “Losing an explosive player like Percy [Harvin] is a tough loss. But we have some guys that are stepping up. You know, me and Doug are trying to get the young guys going and they’ve really done a lot of great things for us so we’re going to continue to try to help them get going and continue to learn ourselves and get better ourselves and work on that chemistry with Russell [Wilson] and just get that passing game going.”

T RUSSELL OKUNG
(On how nothing gets away from them) “Just kind of stayed at it. We stayed at it and we kept pushing and kept driving and before you know it we’re breaking big runs.”
(On what it means having won two games in a row) “Just another one on the board. Obviously we’re very grateful but we’re looking forward to the next week already. Looking forward to playing a good team at Kansas City and hopefully taking some of this game with us.”
(On Marshawn Lynch’s performance today) “He’s a phenomenal player. I think we all know what he can do and so grateful they really put the game on our backs today as an offensive line and we were able to show up.”
(On taking pride in 350 rushing yards) “Oh no, no that’s great. That’s an offensive lineman’s dream. I’m just glad we could help out and do that today.”

G J.R. SWEEZY
(On how the team prepared for the game) “We really increased our tempo this week and it really showed up in the game. Once we started going, it was hard to stop. We felt it and we just kept getting after it.”
(On read option being in the game plan) “Well that’s all Russ [Russell Wilson]. That’s him making his reads, playing ball, and being the playmaker that he is.”
(On Marshawn Lynch) “That’s Marshawn-running guys over, the O-line running down there and cleaning up piles. That’s our style and we really got after it today.”

DE MICHAEL BENNETT
(On the pile to recover the ball) “I wasn’t sure who had the ball-I was just trying to make sure we had the ball at the end so it’s good that we came out with it.”
(On how good can this team be) “This team can be as good as it wants-we already went to the Super Bowl. That’s always the (goal)-to win the division and keep playing-we’re as good as we want to be so every week we have to show up because no matter who we’re playing, we’re always getting their best. They change up every weekend and we have to come out and play.”
(On guys coming back, is the team rolling) “I think we’re getting rolling with a lot of guys coming back from different positions. We lost [Brandon] Mebane today-that’s one of the keys to maintaining the run game but Jordan [Hill] gets to step up and Kevin [Williams] gets to come in and play some nose. So it’s going to be a good turnout.”
(On not starting out strong) “I mean they had some good plays-this was probably the first time Eli [Manning] threw the ball in under three seconds. Prior in every game, he’d been holding it time after time, but today they were getting the ball out really quick-getting a couple three step big throws and it was quick. They caught the ball, but we came back and bounced back in the second half and held them from catching it.”

SS JERON JOHNSON
(On making adjustments) “Yes-we gave up some deep balls in the secondary and that’s not like us. Coach came up to us and did a good job of getting us back on track-we knew what we had to do in the second half and we came out and executed.”
(On younger players stepping up) “KPL [Kevin Pierre-Louis] had a nice play on that tackle. We’re rolling right now-we’re in a great groove, we just have to keep going and continue to get better week in and week out.”

OLB KEVIN PIERRE-LOUIS
(On what’s the capacity for the team to win) “The sky is the limit. We work so hard during the week, we believe in each other, we have a bunch of guys stepping up now with injuries that have happened with this team, and we have guys coming back so we’re only going to get stronger. We have a lot of depth now-Brock [Coyle] has been doing a great job at the mike, K.J. [Wright] has been absolutely killing it wherever we place him, the whole d-line is pressuring the quarterback, and Mike B [Bennett] had a sack today. So we’re all trying to make plays as a team and as a defense and even on special teams.”
(On adjustments) “Earl [Thomas] just talked about believing. We have to believe that we can make the plays. We started to believe and the plays started coming to us. We keep working hard-I mean they’re [Giants] coached up too so they’re going to make plays, but we had to allow the plays to come to us. Early in the first half, I remember Sherm [Richard Sherman] told me, ‘Just play slowly and act fast.’ I feel as if the whole team started to do that-we played a little slower, reacted fast, and we got it together.”

S EARL THOMAS

(On how he feels after the game) “It was just a great game. This game was just so awesome-it’s just a humbling experience to play this child’s game that you’ve been playing all of your life and to have all of your teammates with you. The way we rallied and never gave up-this is just a humbling experience for me. I’m just excited to be a part of this.”
(On how the defense changed in the second half) “I think we started out of character early with not staying on top, but we made the correct adjustments to get everything together. I think it’s all about strategy and understanding how they want to attack you, but they did some things that we haven’t seen. But Coach did a great job of preparing us for that-thirteen [Odell Beckam Jr.] is a great player. They tried to move him in the slot, the Z receiver, and the X receiver just to get him open. He did a great job making big plays for them.”
(On his interception) “Well, Sherm [Richard Sherman] is playing his butt off. He’s a competitor-that’s why he’s the best corner in the league. When you run-good stuff happens. We’re always talking about running to the ball, fighting for every inch and that’s what we do.”

CB RICHARD SHERMAN
(On Earl Thomas’ interception) “Well it was a fade-looked like they all ran seams. Eli [Manning] took a while to get it out-he let it develop a little bit. It was a fade all the way-I went up to play it, got grabbed a little bit; I was able to get a hand on it, tip it off, he got it, and we started rolling.”
(On was he surprised how late the pass came) “I was-but [Odell] Beckam is a great player so they had to depend on him and take risks and take shots in games like this. He was able to get one earlier, which was a great play by him.”